Happy like barnacles

At the start of our second week of the delicious school holidays (for they are just like an ice cream that one doesn't want to end...and similarly our time does indeed seem to be melting away frustratingly quickly!) we all awoke with a craving to be beside the sea. The little Teacakes gathered buckets and spades, warm clothing...and some Top Trump cards as their random choice of play-thing for in-car entertainment.

Who could tire of the feeling as you first glimpse the sea? Or the game of offering up a shiny new penny for the first who shouts to announce it. After lunch in a wonderful cafe, where the waiters and waitresses wore the most gorgeously-styled plain black aprons (my notebook came out within seconds so that I might try and capture the detailing and recreate some of the loveliness with my own more pinky-toned fabrics), we went and sat on the beach....

...and looked at the limpets and barnacles that clung to the tide breakers...

...and then built waterways that the rising tide might travel up, which proved to be a hazardous activity resulting in wet shoes for some. This is my favourite time of year for visiting the beach...because you rarely have to share it...except with these seagulls that made the most endearing noises as they followed one another across the pebbles...

until they became silent as they looked out to sea.

In the late afternoon, very suddenly the sun went in, the temperature dropped and the sky began to change colour, which was all the incitement we needed to go off in search of cake. Slices of flourless chocolate cake (far less puritan than its name suggests) could be found in one of my best-loved buildings: a beautiful art deco pavilion, also home to an art gallery and stunning sculptures like this one below, that hangs in the well of a spiral staircase.

Some buildings make you love every part of them, for me this is one of them. I love its fluid, relaxed feel, its clean lines, chrome curves and huge sheet glass windows and sea view that is visible from every window. If you climb to the very top of the spiral staircase you may go out onto the roof, where the view seems even more breathtaking. From the roof I photographed the horizon, which after an torrential downpour was awash with moody blues and turquoises.

Once I had caught up the with the Teacakes, who had gone back inside with Grandmama, having grown chilly out on the roof, Zebra-girl and I went off for a closer look at the beautiful white domed shelter that we had looked down on from the pavilion.

Is there any more perfect happiness than being at the seaside on a quiet day when the weather see-saws between extremes providing an ever-changing colour-scheme to the horizon, safe in the knowledge that your dress is adequate to cope with this inclemency? It is second only to being in a fabric shop with money to spend, I think....or maybe it even beats that.